hi, everybody. welcome to the wall street report. big ben's bond bombshell. the fed's huge move. bill gross tells us what it all means for the markets and your money. italy at the center of europe's storm as it tries to pull out from under a crushing debt burden. my conversation with mario monti and the end of men. "the wall street journal" report agains right now. here's a look t a what's

making news as we head into a new week. the federal reserve is hoping the third time will be a charm. the fed's open market committee announcing a new bond buying program to keep rates low and boost the economy. the latest unprecedented round of quantitative easing is different in that it is open ended and has no end date. that sent stocks surging on wall street. the dow and s&p 500 hitting the the heist levels since december of 2007. the nasdaq at the highest since november of 2000. another ratings agency issues a warning. moody's says if congressional negotiations fail to stabilize the budget, moody's will lower the rating. mark zuckerberg made his first public appearance since the the company's botched ipo this year. he said facebook was focusing on mobile. the stock price was disappointing, he said cht. >

. facebook trades at about half of the ipo price and apple introduced its long awaited iphone 5. it's lighter, thinner than previous models. has a smaller dock connecter, not compatible with earlier phones. apple tok hitting new highs after the announcement. a major move by the fed, but what impact will it have on the economy? who better to answer than bill gross. running the world's largest mutual fund, pimco's total return fund. thanks for your time today. >> thank you. >> so, so much to talk about this week. let me begin with the fed action. buying $40 billion worth of mortgage-backed securities a month. to keep interest ralates low. was this throwing everything at the economy? >> i don't think so. i think this was the most significant step taking by the fed since paul volcker promised to break the back of inflation in 1979 with a 20% prime.

it in effect, ben bernanke and the fed promised to buy mortgages until the cow comes home and when do cows come home? in this case, in the early evening when the economy is generating enough jobs to lower unemployment. perhaps to 7% or lower. so until then, the fed will buy 40 billion of mortgages a month and maintain short rates close to zero and hope to rejuvenate the economy via lower mortgage rates and higher home prices. >> now, of course, the market's loved it. you know, the stock market soared as soon as we heard the news on thursday. another big rally on friday. but what is the effectiveness of this? how do you see this working and actually moving the needle in terms of job creation, in terms of economic growth, bill? >> increasingly ineffective. this will be qe3. we've had 1, it began in november of 2008 and qe2, then the twist.

increasing increasingly, these programs have been less and less effective because the price of money or the interest rate on that money has been so close to zero that it makes little, if any, difference. >> federal reserve chairman ben bernanke also expressed concern asht about the fiscal cliff. i want you to hear what he had to say, then i'd love to get your reaction. >> it's a fiscal cliff isn't addressed as i've said, i don't think our tools are are strong enough to off set the effects of a major fiscal shock. so we'd have to think about what to do in that contingency. >> so the nis fiscal cliff, tax cuts and spending programs in place now, they'll expire at the end of the year. what's your take on how this gets impacted by this economy? >> well, we're not sure either as is ben bernanke. you know, this will depend upon the period between november and january and who's elected.

i suppose, but eventually, the cliff, we won't see a wily coyote over the cliff and falling down into the deep canyon. i think it's going to be resolved, but there's going to be some negative drag in term of the economy with potentially higher tax rates for the rich and potentially lower spending in some areas. so fiscally, the economy needs to get an injection of adrenaline just like ben bernanke has provided this week. >> so, you sent out a tweet at the end of the week. buy gold, buy a house. tell me the imact of this. are you saying you want to buy hard assets? >> i think this is the era of reflation or attempted reflation. what ben bernanke is doing is basically writing checks. it's hard to imagine that from the standpoint of main street, but they're going to be writing 500 billion to a trillion

dollars worth of checks over the next year or two. that increases prices. reflates the economy. the favored assets, gold or a house that eventually catches a bid in terms of a higher price as opposed to continues to go down. >> let me ask you about europe, bill. it appears to have calmed down slightly. the euro package passing a hurdle. do you think europe has begun to stabilize or is this going to be another problem for the u.s. economy down the road? >> i think it's all temporary to a certain extent. to the extent you start to solve a crisis with more debt, which is what we're doing in the yit. ultimately, the solutions are coming from the fiscal or structural side. that means basically that spain and italy and greece have to get their act together this terms of becoming more competitive and no

amount of check writing on the part of the ecb will solve that. >> given this, how do you want to invest? you said you want to buy hard assets like gold and house. what should the investor be doing now. >> i think stocks are okay. stocks in a very high inflation era. don't do well, but we're talking 2 to 3% here, so stock market, i would think an investor would want to focus not necessarily on the u.s., but on countries where reflation and where commodity inflation would take hold. you know, brazil is a good example. mexico's a good example. they've suffered over the past 64 months. now that reflation is back on the table, perhaps those countries do well in terms of their relative prices in their stock markets. and the bond market. you know, the bond market is so low yielding that it's difficult to recommend much of anything. i would think basically you know, that investors should look to italy as a country that

perhaps can ultimately stand up and survive some type of real growth rates. >> your insights are so valuable to our audience. we appreciate your time. va great rest of the weekend. bill gross from pimco. up next, can italy see the light at the end of the dark economic tunnel? my surprising conversation with the italian prime minister. and later, the end of men is near? long call the weaker sex, women are asserting their power when it comes to life, money and the workplace. the author of a book that's got everybody talking. take a look at how the stock market ended the week. back in a moment. in america today we're running out of a vital resource we need to compete on the global stage. what we need are people prepared for the careers of our new economy. by 2025, we could have 20 million jobs

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the debt crisis in europe seems to be stabilizestabilizin europe moved back from the brink? a ruling this week allows the european stabilile tility mecha go forward. the esm bailout fund will be able to buy bonds to keep interest rates low for struggling countries. one of those countries may not need or want to use that fund as i found out this week when i sat down with mario monti. >> if the you were ozone market comes down because of the announcement that this new instrument is available, probably the interest rate on italian government securities will go down. gently and nicely and we will not need to use the instrument. but now the italian people want

to know what's next. talk to us about your priorities for 2014 rand really how much and how much longer the italian people will have to face these austerity programs. >> the austerity part of the program, i'm confident will gradual lly subside. because a concentrative need of deficit reduction was needed and once italy next year reaches the objective of having a balanced budget in cyclically adjusted terms, then it will have to stay on that course and another thing which i hope will begin to materialize in 2013 is to have beginning of an up turn in the economy. so stay on a disciplined fiscal course, but without the aggressiveness as you said. and to begin to have the benefits in terms of growth of

employment and we hope of youth unemployment to put in place. >> so, when would you expect growth to return to italy? >> in 2013. this is my clear expeck tase. >> well, you have really planted the seeds. your term ending in april, but people are celebrating your leadership. would you be poised to stay on if asked after april? zpl my horizon is really long-term concerning the reforms that we have implanted in the italian economy. in order for them to generate benefits in the long-term, but my personal horizon in this strange current occupation of mine and definitely 2013. no doubt about it.

>> how do you get your arms around the issue of people just following the rules, paying taxes, so the argument is that so many people just do not pay taxes. can you come up with a program that polices this so this you know that everyone is following this same law of the land and paying taxes in italy? >> this is not very glamorous as policy objective, but it is absolutely fundamental and i'm happy that you raised it because this is at the basis not only of a sound economic policy, but also of society. of just individuals between individuals and public powers as we started our activity. a number of instruments have been put in place like the increased transparency now

really involving all transactions through the banks and the modalities companies perform so that the fiscal authorities have the full image of that. we have limited the ability for people to combat transactions in currency and banks to a certain level. we are trying to facilitate credit cards and other forms of payments which were not so widespread in italy than other countries. >> my thanks to prime minister mario monti. up next, do men know much at all anymore? as women succeed in greater numbers, is it the end of men? and look for us on facebook. back in a moment.

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the changes to the u.s. economy and the workforce benefit one agengender more thae other? my next guest says men have been in charge for the past 40,000 years, but women have been gaining for 40 and have much more to go, so, are men over? hannah is with me. great to have you. i love the idea of this book. so this election cycle, we keep asking the question, are you

better off today than four years ago? you say economically, women are better off. >> it's relatively speaking. nobody's i think better off than they were four years ago, but i think women are just having an easier time adapting. doesn't mean that things are awesome for women and terrible for men. >> i love the idea that women really are soaring today. you look at higher education, law school, medical school, business school. it's all women. >> that's a remarkable thing. whether we like it or not, you need a college degree to succeed and why women with letter at getting degrees han me, i don't know. lots of people have theorys, but they do. and so, that's the first step into entering the middle klaas. >> tell us what's going on in terms of women and men in today's economy. >> it's that you have 12 out of the 15 jobs available to grow the most in the next decade are largely female dominated jobs.

that has to do with our health care and service sectors growing at the same time the man f manufacturing economy has shrunk! when you look at the white collar story today, people are getting laid off on wall street cht that's largely men. i love the fact you cite the i love lucy episode. this was the time when women contributed less than 5% to family income and now, that attitude and contribution has changed entirely. >> now, it's like 42% on average and on top of that, we have this new phenomenon of women who are the main breadwinners in their families and that is something completely new and does a number on male, female relationships. that's one of the things i've noticed is that in the book, i started out thinking this was an economic argument, then i realized how deeply this affected so many decisions about

marriage, sex, workplace, about how we raise our children. >> so, how does this change things going forward? the rise of women? >> this is a spotty rise for women. there are a lot of industries, the finance industry, which are resistant to women. we're not entirely comfortable with strong, dominant, aggressive women yet. in the book, i write about that. this is sort of a transition moment, so i talk about what you can do to get past that resistance because there is still resistance. the same way there's resistance to the femme nuysed men. >> men can get away with a lot more than women. if a woman is aggressive, she's too aggressive. if a man is aggressive, it's fine. >> and tas not just a stereotype. the studies i quote are from nyu and harvard and testimonies from women on wall street and silicon valley who say there are ways of

behaving, i just can't get away with. if i want to express myself a certain way in a meeting, i know it's just not going to fly. people respond like, whoa, what's wrong with that lady. >> that's amazing, actually. still talking about the glass ceiling. you're not seeing the kind of participation in the ceo office this you see from men. we still have these issues even though women are doing very well. >> it's only been 40 years, so it's not like we have achieved total domination overnight. more women are getting into management. getting our heads around the idea of women as powerful, having women bosses, but there's a long way to go. what are the barriers both in term os f a woman and workplace structure. we barely acknowledge that women are such an important part of the economy. it's like our eyes are shut to the fact that women are so important.

>> why? >> it's a cultural thing. it's capitalism. just some way in which we don't adjust. it's hard to accept and so we don't accommodate women and their ambitions. thank god we have examples like marissa mayer. maybe you wouldn't do that, but personally, i'm glad those examples exist because some women will want to do that. >> do you think there will be a time where women's roles as primary caretakers won't be looked at and judged together? >> it's a painful thing. when i interviewed women in the book who were making a couple of million dollars and their husbands were staying home, they still felt total dominance over the domestic sphere. like they wouldn't give that up. i don't know if that's because women are bossy and don't want to give that up, with each couple, there's different dynamics.

they seem to maintain control of old spheres as they gain new ones. >> i like the idea of women make choices, not sacrifice. oh, women sacrifice to have a baby. you want to have a lot of balls in the air. >> when marissa mayer said that, oh, what's her problem, she does have a husband. look, she just got this ceo job. why can't people ask her husband what he's going to do for the next six months? >> thank you so much. up next, we'll take a look at the news this week that will have an impact on your money and then lights, camera, wall street and movie stars. just another day at the office. for me. and my famous costars. stay with us. two years ago, the people of bp made a commitment to the gulf.

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for more, check out the website. wsjr.cnbc.com. now, a look at the stories coming up in the week ahead. earnings releases will be out for the second quarter from fedex, oracle and general mills among others. tuesday, the 67th session of the u.n. general assembly opens in new york, also we will look for the number of existing homes sold in the same month. on friday, the iphone 5 will be available for purchase at apple stores. big hype around that new phone. and finally today, the role i was born to play.

me. if you look closely, you'll see me portraying a financial reporter interviewing richard gere in the film, arbitrage. i was thrilled to participate and spend time on the set. hollywood's fascination with wall street just proves we have the best stories right here in business news. next week, it's a bird, it's a plane, well, if it's up in the air, it may be a vegetable. we'll take a look at the growing business of rooftop farms. keep it here. have a great weekend, everybody. see you again next weekend. take. ...at the best schools in the world... ...you see they all have something very interesting in common. ...with a deeper knowledge of their subjects. as a result, their students achieve at a higher level.

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